ONE person has been killed and at least 54 others are injured in a coach crash in Cornwall in the UK.

The vehicle, believed to be carrying passengers aged 60 and over, crashed into a hedge on the A387 at Morval, near Looe in Cornwall, at around 1pm, Devon and Cornwall Police said.

A police spokesman said: "The collision has been declared a major incident and numerous emergency services are at the scene dealing with the collision."

As well as the fatality, eight other people were seriously injured, with a further 45 walking wounded being treated at a nearby village hall, according to South West Ambulance Service.

Three air ambulances, one from Cornwall and two from Devon, were sent to the crash site and one seriously injured person was flown by air ambulance to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, the SWAS spokesman said.

The coach was travelling towards Looe from the direction of Plymouth, between Sandplace and Widegates, when the incident occurred.

The ambulance service later revised its figures downwards to one dead, eight seriously injured and four walking wounded, after passengers had been checked over by paramedics.

All eight seriously injured have been taken to Derriford, two of them by air ambulance, a spokesman said.

Roberta Powley, who lives in the nearby village of No Man's Land, said she had been told the coach had been taking pensioners on a trip to Looe when it crashed near the Snooty Fox country hotel.

Passengers have been taken to the nearby Memorial Hall, where locals are handing out tea and coffee.

Mrs Powley said: "I think they were all OAPs on a trip. they were heading down to Looe. They have opened up what used to be the Memorial Hall in Morval and giving them tea and coffee.

"I was told the coach crashed at the Snooty Fox, and that is up a very steep hill going down into Looe."